In the Mr. Robot Premiere, Evil Still Runs the World

July 14,2016 20:15

Hello again friend. The first season of Mr. Robot left audiences with a lot of questions, but it also left civilization on the cusp of revolution. FSociety had struck a major blow to Evil Corp and the whole financial world was on the brink of collapse ...

Image: Michael Parmelee/USA NetworkHello again friend. The first season of Mr. Robot left audiences with a lot of questions, but it also left civilization on the cusp of revolution. FSociety had struck a major blow to Evil Corp and the whole financial world was on the brink of collapse. But in last nightâ€™s season two premiere, we learned that FSocietyâ€™s war was more banal ideological rhetoric than than earth-shattering revelationâ€”because nothing actually changed.

When Elliot, Darlene, and FSociety destroyed 70 percent of the worldâ€™s debt by wiping the records of Evil Corp they celebrated in their own ways. Elliot by basking in the affection of the voices inside his head and Darlene by partying. But the change they sought to bring to the world was a big bowl of bupkis. As Darlene tells a crowd of FSociety followers towards the end of the first hour of the premiere, â€œWe didnâ€™t make things better.â€Evil Corp is still being pretty damn evil, and itâ€™s making demands that the whole world scrambles to meet. It demands account holders pay bills even if theyâ€™ve already been paid, and CEO Philip Price demands the government shut the hell up when it tries to force him to resign; Angela, a highlight of season one and Elliotâ€™s childhood friend, demands the media acquiesce to Evil Corpâ€™s prescribed talking points, and the media collective says okay.FSocietyâ€™s revolution has stalled and Evil Corp is still on top.

Image: Michael Parmelee/USA NetworkBut down on the personal level the characters of Mr. Robot are at very different places. The first quarter of the season premiere is given over to Elliotâ€™s new routine, which he intones in a drone like the white noise on the television. Elliotâ€™s ignored the mental health facility he should absolutely be visiting and checked himself into Chateau Mom. Itâ€™s a bleak place devoid of personality, paintings, or pastels and itâ€™s governed by the quietly menacing Mama Ratched. When heâ€™s not mutely listening to his new friend Leon nihilistically talk Seinfeld and hang a lantern on every flaw of Mr. Robotâ€™s first season, Elliotâ€™s embracing optimism in church or chronicling his every thought in his journal.Only thatâ€™s just what he tells his psychiatrist, Krista. Theyâ€™re still seeing one another despite him cyberstalking her last season and her blackmailing him this season. Maybe the contentious undercurrent of their relationship is why heâ€™s keeping a major secret from her. Or maybe itâ€™s Mr. Robot. The voice in Elliotâ€™s head that bears Christian Slaterâ€™s dreamy visage is not dead, gone, or happy. Heâ€™s a violently angry specter screaming in Eliotâ€™s ear and holding a gun to Elliotâ€™s head.The drone of Elliotâ€™s monotonous life is a lie heâ€™s telling Krista (and not the viewerâ€”his normal voice over pal). In reality heâ€™s waging war against his own psyche, and taking bullet after bullet to the head. Ostensibly itâ€™s about maintaining control. The last time he let Mr. Robot out he sent the world into an economic tailspin. Hiding away like a cyber equivalent of Bruce Banner is his way of protecting everyone.Except that Elliotâ€™s real goal isnâ€™t saving the world from Christian Slater. Itâ€™s finding out what happened to Tyrell, who disappeared at the end of the first season and might, just possibly, have been murdered by a voice in Elliotâ€™s head. Elliot is still raging wrathful war, but now itâ€™s almost exclusively in his mind.

Image: Peter Kramer/USA NetworkHis sisterâ€™s war, on the other hand, is being waged via smartphones, social media, and the poorly secured Internet of Things. If youâ€™ve ever wondered why you should be wary of a smart home, than boy is Mr. Robotâ€™s introduction to the Evil Corp Legal Counsel, Susan Jacobs, for you. Darlene abruptly evicts the woman from her home in a harrowing sequence of smart home tech gone awryâ€”though for the amount Susan spent on that set up Iâ€™m surprised she just accepted â€œweâ€™ll fix it wheneverâ€ as an excuse.Darlene elects to make her new multimillion dollar estate the new headquarters for her much expanded FSociety. On the surface things appears to be the same as when we last saw her. Itâ€™s a non-stop party celebrating Wall Streetâ€™s balls being in FSocietyâ€™s vice! Only contrary to what that hack at Gizmodo claims, the only balls on Wall Street Darlene has are the ones off the bull.Girl, when not pretending everything is just fine, is sobbing in the bathroom and visually driving home a major theme of the season. Mr. Robotâ€™s heroes are all shattered psyches held together by fragile masks. Darlene is a hot and lonely mess who applies her lipstick like warpaint and loudly espouses rote platitudes to her hungry masses as she waits for someone else to come and take the reigns of the machine she helped build. Angela is a desperate woman with her financial back against the wall whoâ€™s applying a facade of heartless frigidity with nightly whispers of cliched positivity chants.And Elliot, who built his first mask when his dad shoved him out the window and the doctor then sat him down for a chat, is learning to finally manipulate the various guises his fractured mind wears.Assorted MusingsYou know a lot of stuff was happening when the murder of a main character like Angela and Elliotâ€™s old boss gets stuck down here. RIP Gideon Goddard. You were a likable patsy.Other things chilling down hereâ€”the chat we need to have about all that money Darlene had burned. If you saw someone burning a few million bucks would you really just watch or get in there and get to stomping? Because Iâ€™m not gonna lie, Iâ€™d swarm the flaming pile of money.Tyrell may be alive. If he isnâ€™t, though, then his widow is getting kinky with their baby, a baby monitor, and some stranger on the interwebs. To be fair, sheâ€™s already rather kinkyâ€”Iâ€™m excited for the woman behind the S&M stylings to be explored.Hats off to director and showrunner Sam Esmail for that sex scene. Itâ€™s some A-plus hiding of bits and bobs.The gunshot wound in Elliotâ€™s head is a tumor right? (Come on guys. Itâ€™s a tumor.)And Leon is clearly another personality manifesting in Elliotâ€™s head... right?